Main menu

Tag Archives: wedding

Post navigation

I have decided that I will now start having some fashion fun on Fridays! I will use Fridays as a day to post about wedding fashions. It might be a wedding gown, bridesmaids dress, shoes, or all of the above! Hopefully I can help you find the dress or shoe you were looking for.

Up first, a romantic, lace wedding gown by Kenneth Winston. If you are looking for an all over lace dress with an amazing back, look no further!

I know it is July and several months past Art of the Table. I thought it would be fun this year to wait several months so that everyone could have another taster of Art of the Table in the middle of the year. I have had the great honor of helping with this event since 2010. For this year’s table, I wanted to do something with a rustic touch. Instead of doing a rustic table with all the touches most people use, I wanted to add a twist. I ended up calling our table Rustic Glam Chic. The table was designed to be romantic and chic with a touch of rustic. I wanted guests to see that there are different ways to use rustic. Here are the photos from the event.

I enjoy this event every year and cannot wait until next year (yes, I already have started designing my table)! In case you do not know about this event, it is a table design event by the Association of Bridal Consultants – Indiana Chapter. It features tables designed by some of the best planners and florists in Indiana. It was started in 2004 to honor Betty Jackson, a fellow planner taken from us too soon.

Make sure to mark your calendars for next year’s 10th Anniversary celebration March 2, 2014. You will not want to miss this year as we have many specials touches for the 10th Anniversary. Go to www.artofthetable.info to find out more, see photos from all the tables, and how you too can become a designer.

It is that time a year again – Art of the Table. In case you do not know, this is a design event put on by the Indiana Chapter of the Association of Bridal Consultants. We will have 25 designers and/or florists designing amazing tablescapes. It is the one time a year many of us designers get to put the limit and really create that over-the-top look. This is a must see for all brides who want inspiration for their wedding. Best of all, we donate the proceeds to the American Heart Association and the Betty Jackson Education Fund. Who is Betty Jackson you may ask? She is a fellow planner who was taken from us too early by cancer. This event was created to honor her and her passions. Here are the details:

If you were to look at my blog stats, you would find my most popular post being a post with pink shoes. The problem being that they are ruffle Carlos Santana shoes that are no longer available (I know, I have them in black). I decided that I needed to give you more pink shoes to drool over. Right now these are available but who knows for how long. Enjoy!

Wait a minute, that last one is not a shoe! What can I say, I couldn’t resist. While looking for pink shoes, I found this Kate Spade purse and wanted to share. Why not have a pink purse to match your pink shoes!

I posted a couple of days ago on Facebook and Twitter that I was getting a little tired of winter and wanted to start thinking about weddings. Therefore, I had a crazy winter sale for our weekend management services. Since it is still winter and I am still crazy, I have decided to extend this offer to up to five brides until January 31st. This means that in the next two days, five luck brides can have a wedding coordinator at their wedding and save some money in the process. The offer is $225 off our weekend management Polished Path. This path includes:

Meeting 6-8 weeks out to start developing your timeline
Creation of Your Wedding Timeline
Wedding Coordinator and Team
Final Contact with All of Your Vendors – Including Timelines for All Vendors
Bridal Party Schedule
Rehearsal Coordination
All Day on Your Wedding Day
BONUS: This Path includes a 15 minute phone call once a month with a planner to talk about your wedding. You get to have a professional resource to ask questions to, vent, and tell all the fun details to.

Hurry, we can only give this offer to five brides so contact us at hello [at] rufflesroses.com to set up an appointment to meet with us.

One of the hottest trends from last year that is still going strong into the new year is Ombre. One of my favorite places to see ombre is in the cake. (Maybe that is because I have a sweet tooth, hhhmmmm…..)

If you are getting married, you have most likely already started searching for a wedding gown. The interesting thing this year is that more and more brides are looking for sleeves of some kind on their dress. Dress designers are starting to realize this too. Here are a couple of examples:

As you can see brides like the idea of covering up a bit. Also, having sleeves allow the designers to make great designs for the back of the dress. Click on the links and see how dress backs have changed.

The only problem is that not all dresses and designers have caught up with this trend. Many brides are finding dresses they like that have no sleeves. Not to worry, a good seamstress can fix that. In fact, Lucy’s Bridal in Carmel, can add cap sleeves to many of their dresses. When shopping for your dress, make sure to stop in to their shop to see if one of their dresses can be your dream dress.

What do you think about sleeves on dresses? Are you having them on your dress?

You heard a bridal show was going on this weekend so you, your mom and maybe your fiance decide to go. You wake up energized and excited all the way to the show. You register and off you go. Fast forward several hours and you are tired, worn out and your head is spinning. You have talked to venues, photographers, DJs, florists, planners, travel agents and had tons of cake. On the way home you realize that even though you have talked to many more vendors, you still have no idea where to start. First off, you are not alone. Almost all couples come away from a bridal show a little dazed. It is ok, you saw tons of people, no one expects you to remember everything. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of the show and how to survive bridal show overload.

After you get home, take a break from wedding talk. Maybe you eat dinner, watch some TV or take a nap, just try to clear your mind. Now that you can think clearly again, it is time to sort the bag. You were handed tons of business cards, postcards, brochures etc and now it is time to go through them. Start with three piles: Pile 1, I remember them and really liked them, Pile 2, I remember them and I do not feel they are right for me, Pile 3, I do not remember them at all. After sorting, take pile 2 and get rid of it. It is ok that every professional you talked to is not your type. You will find that there are vendors that are right for you and others that are not. I always tell my clients that you have to love me and I have to get you or I will not be able to make your vision a reality. This is true with all your vendors.

The next step is to research piles 1 and 3. With pile 1, your likes, you want to really see what they are like. Go to their website, blog and maybe their Facebook Page. Look at their work and see if you still connect with them. If so, then keep them, if not, then put them in pile 2 and get rid of them. With pile 3, your do not remembers, divide them into piles of type; photographers, DJs, planners etc. I would suggest that each night for the next week, you pick a category and research them. This will get your piles down to just the vendors you want to chat with.

This may seem like a lot of work, but if you take it one day at a time, in one week your big pile you dumped on the couch will now be just the people you are really interested in. Now when it is time to book your vendors, you already have a list to start with. If you still feel really overwhelmed, then maybe it is time to look at the planner pile first. We are always here to help so you do not feel overwhelmed and stressed.

We love to hear about your experiences at bridal shows. Tell us how we can make the experience better.

This past weekend I attending a regional meeting for the Association of Bridal Consultants and was honored to design a table for lunch. I was given the colors fuchsia, apple green, and black and white stripes. The only other stipulation was to try to not use fresh flowers (we were trying to keep the cost down). I decided to create a design using fabric. I created fabric ruffles orbs and fabric flowers. I am very pleased with how they turned out.

We have decided that this is a great accent to any wedding. We will soon be offering fabric flowers you can purchase to accent your wedding or event. We will also be creating keepsake bouquets. This will be a great way to have a wedding memory keep forever. Email us at hello {at} rufflesroses.com to be emailed when these items are available.

It finally happened, he asked and you said yes. You have been waiting for this for a while and cannot believe it has happened. You are now going to have your dream wedding, the problem is that you don’t know what that is. You were not one of those girls who started planning your wedding at age 7. You always wanted a wedding but you don’t know where to start. I have been there (surprisingly, I was just like you once) and I am here to help. Here are my five starting points to planning your wedding.

1. Sit down with your families, and decide the basics – Here are the questions you need answered: who is doing what, what is the budget, and when are you getting married?

It is important at the start to let your family know how much help you want. They can help a lot or a little you decide, but make sure to let them know. You also need to know how much you are working with. Everyone has a budget, everyone. Figure out what yours is before you start following in love with people and places. Finally, figure out a date. You may not come up with the exact date but figured out dates that will work for everyone.

2. Find your locations – Many times your date is set by what date your venues are open. You will find the perfect place and know you are getting married there. If it is not open on your target date, you can change the date now before anything else is decided. Since you may change your date for your locations, you do not want to book your professionals first.

3. Figure out when you need to get your dress – Now that you know your date, you need to figure out your dress shopping schedule. A wedding dress takes 4-6 months to order, plus you will most likely need time to get it altered. I tell my brides if at all possible try to order your dress seven months before your wedding. Better safe then worried. I never what a bride worried her dress will not make it in time. If you are already passed seven months, then you need to go shopping very soon.

4. Get Inspired – The best way to figure out what you want is to look at photos. This is the really fun part of wedding planning. Grab a magazine or grab your computer and get started. As we all know, you can Google anything and that includes all things weddings. Try to narrow your search to a color, season, theme, etc. This will help with not going into overload. Remember, this is suppose to be fun. If you do not know where to start, go to the main wedding sites:

These sites have tons of ideas in any theme and color scheme out there. They will allow you to see many different types of weddings quickly so you can start to learn what your wedding will look/feel like.

5. If you feel overwhelmed, look into a wedding planner – A wedding planner is no longer a luxury for the wealth. You might be surprised to know that a wedding planner is more accessible than before and could be your greatest asset. A planner can help you as much or as little as you want. We help you relax and enjoy planning your wedding. Planning a wedding can be a full-time job, and not something you have done before. Why not have someone there to be on your side and there helping you every step of the way. You deserve to have fun planning your wedding!